Feel the impact! We take a look at the 4K Blu-ray release of Double Impact from the MVD Rewind Collection
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It’s a pretty exciting time in physical media. Past classics and cult classics alike are seeing more and more remasters in ultra-high-definition Blu-ray releases. Labels like Shout Factory’s Hong Kong Cinema Classics and MVD Rewind Collection are repackaging these 4K upgrades with grade retro logos and presentations. You can now re-live every kick and every split (and every spinning split kick) of some Jean-Claude Van Damme films in new home video releases of some of his titles. Knock Off from 1998, Lionheart from 1990 and Double Impact from 1991 have gotten early year releases. This time, we take a look at Double Impact.
Double Impact
Double Impact was a perfect kind of film for Jean-Claude Van Damme at the time of its release. By the end of the 1980s, he was a baby-faced, Hercules-physiqued, martial arts phenomenon thanks to movies like Bloodsport, Kickboxer and Lionheart. While newer action stars like Steven Seagal also followed in the vein of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, Van Damme had an All-American boyish charm to him that went really well with his martial arts prowess. His natural charisma was very easy for movie-going audiences to get attached to — not to mention the sex appeal he exuded. And boy, did his soak up all the attention.
When Double Impact came out, it was everything you wanted and expected from a new Van Damme action movie, so even if he was a kind of self-indulgent with this project, it just didn’t matter. He earned it. And it’s SO entertaining! The trailer for this movie remarked (with help from the late, great trailer voice Don LaFontaine), “Double the Van Damage!” And that’s what the movie feels like. Take some of the greatest things that made 90s action movies entertaining and multiply it by two.
You can tell Van Damme is having the time of his life at the height of his fame. A lot of that comes through in the movie. Double Impact is higher in concept when compared to Van Damme’s past action films. While the majority of his resume up to then focused more on pure fighting, this one upgraded the action to involve more gunplay, more explosions and more intrigue. The movie would also capitalize on Van Damme’s sex appeal by adding a lot of sexual tension, a shameless showcase of hardbodies and a blunt, full-on, fantasy scene.
It is revealed in the special features that the concept of the film actually came from a brainstorming session at Cannon Films, where writer/director Sheldon Lettich thought he and Van Damme could do something inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ The Corsican Brothers. After Bloodsport did big business, Van Damme, you can tell he really wanted to show audiences what he was capable of. Everyone in the cast and crew interviews would profess how he would really get into his twin character roles, Chad and Alex — both of whom are polar opposites. While Chad was closer to Van Damme’s personality, Alex was a harder-edged, street-wise badass, who grew up on the streets of Hong Kong.
Van Damme was able to show some good range in this film, playing both characters. He wasn’t as green on the movie scene at this time, so it was a great time to expand his capabilities and challenge himself. He makes you believe there are two different guys, who happen to look alike, interacting with each other and the directing of the scenes showing Alex and Chad are pretty effortless, if not complicated. The movie is a genre film that’s product of its time and it totally holds up.
How is the 4K Blu-ray?
MVD really brings it with this release. The 4K presentation is beautiful. The movie was restored from the original camera negative and the picture looks fantastic along with the 5.1 surround sound. It’s always a joy to rewatch a movie like this in its theater-like presentation as it transports me back to seeing it at the cinema. Funnily enough, the picture looks so good that it has the “Back to the Future effect,” where you can see the flaws in the aged effects shot when the filmmakers tried to have both brothers in frame (except for the classic split screen method, which still looks good).
The special features are also a real treat. It’s pretty much what I would want for a film like this. You’ve got an all-new 2-part making of documentary, with each part almost an hour long. Cast and crew on the film share some great behind-the-scenes information on the movie and we get some really great anecdotes. It’s also nice that they break the film down by some of the more memorable scenes. There is also a new feature with director Lettich choosing one particular scene to break down and give ample information on.
Then, we also have some extended and deleted scenes, all of which also come close to an hour! You get a lot of expanded sequences like the fight scenes with the Spurs fighter and the hulking Bolo Yeung rematch.
Then, you have some cool archival extras, like an old behind-the-scenes featurette meant for broadcast television back in the day and, interestingly, some pull clips from the film, also meant for television broadcast. Then, you have some archival interviews with Van Damme and the filmmakers, again, meant for press. The coolest archival stuff is shown during the new documentary, which features screentests of the cast and certain hopefuls, like Tia Carrere, who nearly had the Danielle role.
Final Thoughts
As always the case, being a 4K release, the price tag will definitely put off anyone who’s just not a fan enough of this film to shell out a few more extra bucks for a presentation upgrade. However, if you ARE a die hard fan of this film, I definitely think it’s a definitive way to see it, while getting some good insight into the making of it.
You can buy it at MVD’s online shop HERE.
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